When There's Nothing You Can Do
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: Alternate ending to Home Court. Glenn's brain injury was much more severe than initially thought, and Nancy is still bleeding... Glenn and Nancy are in critical condition, and there's nothing their colleagues can do but wait. *Complete*


_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Trauma or the characters. This is just for fun.**_

_**Hi everyone, I can't believe how few stories there have been written about this great show! **__**Anyways, hopefully you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.**_

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The crash had been massive, and it would continue to impact on the lives of two SFFD paramedics for years to come, more than anyone could have foreseen.

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Glenn having seemingly sustained only minor injuries had been released from hospital just hours earlier, Nancy was in recovery following surgery for internal bleeding.

Just when it was thought that the day was over, that the crisis had passed...

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Rueben "Rabbit", a flight medic of many years, and once a partner of Nancy was sitting at the bar, drinking, when Glenn walked in, he said he didn't want company, but Glenn pushed the issue, and quite literally Rabbit pushed back.

Glenn hit the ground hard, he didn't get back up, instead his body began to convulse.

Rabbit was momentarily stunned, "Hey Glenn? Glenn?," then as the convulsions began, and despite how much he'd had to drink, Rabbit realised the severity of the situation, he urgently called out the bartender to call an ambulance as he dropped onto his knees beside his fallen colleague.

It wasn't long before a crowd had gathered, seeking help, Rabbit called out, "Anyone sober here?"

By sheer luck, an on duty EMT was having dinner at the bar, the EMT wasn't confident in his ability to help, but Rabbit, drunk or not still knew his stuff, he just needed someone else to be his hands and eyes.

Rabbit quickly coordinated the group to help him. Soon after, Glenn had been loaded into the EMT's ambulance, and on his way to the hospital.

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Rabbit took charge as they pulled up in the ambulance bay, with the aid of the EMTs, he pushed a gurney carrying Glenn through the ER as he gave intern Diana Van Dine the details of Glenn's condition, not aware that she had been the one to treat and release him just hours before, "Altered LOC, grand-mal seizure forty seconds in duration after blunt occipital trauma, patient involved in earlier collision. He was evaluated here, and released," He placed emphasise on the word, "Still altered and postictal," it was then handed over to the EMT to give the information on Glenn's vital signs as Dr Van Dine led them into a trauma room.

Scans and tests were ordered, specialists were called down, but it quickly became evident that there was little to be done except watch and wait, Glenn had bruising and swelling in his brain, all they could do was put in an ICP monitor, give him drugs, send him up to the ICU, and hope that he would recover.

When Diana asked the neurosurgeon what Glenn's prognosis was, all the senior physician could tell her was that Glenn's condition was critical, the next few days would be crucial, hopefully the mannitol would work in reducing the swelling in his brain, and he would recover, but they were far from being able to promise that.

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Rabbit did not stay with Glenn after arriving at the hospital, instead heading upstairs to check on Nancy, he was relieved to see her resting peacefully in the hospital bed, but that moment of relief quickly evaporated as the steady buzz of activity that was the recovery unit instantly changed as monitors began to screech, monitors Rabbit realised were attached to Nancy's unconscious body, she wasn't sleeping, something was very wrong.

He stood in the background as the staff worked in barely concealed panic to stabilise her condition, he listened as they ordered for more and more units of blood, scans that they never got to doing as her heart went into an abnormal rhythm, that's when he heard the words, "She's bleeding out!", those words were closely followed by another doctor, who had been doing an ultrasound exclaiming, "Damn it, her aorta's ruptured."

"Damn," The first doctor muttered, that's when things really went to hell, "Stay ahead eight units of blood, we'll crack her chest here, once we've got a clamp on the aorta, we can move her to surgery."

Rueben listened numbly to the doctors working, he watched as they cut away the gown that Nancy had been wearing, exposing her chest before they made an incision in her skin over her breastbone, he was unable to suppress a shudder as he watched the sternal saw tear through her sternum, the sound as the sternal retractor pulled apart her ribs, causing the multiple fractures to crunch and grind against each other, as blood was being suctioned out by a nurse while the doctor worked, he'd seen it all before, but this was Nancy lying on that table. Rabbit lost it then, he barely had time to turn away before he violently threw up, and that got their attention.

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Only one nurse was spared though to assist Reuben, she sat him down on an unoccupied bed, and encouraged him to keep his head down, he didn't listen, as soon as his body stopped rebelling against him, rabbit was off the bed, and back at Nancy's side, or as close as he could get.

Rabbit stayed with Nancy despite the staffs' attempts to get him to rest, right up until she was wheeled into the sterile operating area.

Rabbit sat there, just outside the OR doors until Nancy was wheeled out close to nine hours later.

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Cameron, Tyler, and Marissa arrived a couple of hours after Glenn had been brought back in, they had no idea of what had happened.

They were told by the ER triage nurse of all people, reception had closed for the night, and so they headed over to the ER to ask where to go to find Nancy, the nurse didn't know, she had to go ask someone, the look on her face as she returned, it said more than words, in that moment they thought that the nurse was going to tell them that Nancy had died.

"Ms Carnahan is in surgery, I'm not sure exactly, from what I could gather, her aorta ruptured when she was in recovery. And the guy she was brought in with, what's his name..."

"Glenn?"

"That's it. He was brought back in by ambulance a couple of hours ago, presenting with cerebral contusions, I'm very sorry."

There was a silence, the kind that was so loud it felt as though it reverberated throughout the waiting area. That silence was eventually broken by Marissa, "You're saying he's dead?" She rubbed the small medallion she wore as she spoke.

"Oh god, no, he's not dead, I'm sorry. He's in the intensive care, what I meant was ...his condition is critical."

"Oh..." Marissa murmured in relief.

"What about Nancy? What's her condition?" Tyler asked softly.

"I spoke with one of the OR nurses, her condition is stable, but extremely critical. Dr Fitzgerald is working to repair the defect. The best thing you can do right now is head on upstairs to the OR waiting room, someone will update you as soon as they can, maybe the surgeon, or it might be a nurse."

"What about Glenn? Shouldn't someone go be with him?"

"They've only just taken him upstairs, so he won't really be able to have visitors for at least a couple of hours," The nurse informed the small group, "Go upstairs to the OR waiting room, there's nothing else you can do right now."

_There's nothing else you can do..._

_There's nothing you can do..._

_They're dying and there's nothing you can do..._

Thoughts rushed around in their minds, all much the same, the wait felt as though it would never end, and there was nothing any of them could do.

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_**The End.**_

_**I really hope you enjoyed this fic! Please review.**_


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